What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is electronic cash and is changing the the way we think about money much in the same way that email changed how we think about communicating in writing. Unlike PayPal and Western Union, Bitcoin has no central authority. The easiest way to learn is to buy Bitcoin.

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The Origin of Bitcoin

On January 3rd 2009, the first block of the Bitcoin blockchain was mined by one or more persons using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. It is currently being maintained by a group of programmers from around the world. Bitcoin is open-source software, meaning that anyone can review the code.

I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party. - Satoshi Nakamoto, 2008

Advantages of using Bitcoin
Whenever you use VISA, American Express, MasterCard or even PayPal in a store or online, the merchant has to pay up to a 5% processing fee, which cuts into the margin of the merchant. With Bitcoin, transaction fees are optional and the recommended fees are as low as 0.0001 BTC regardless of the transaction size. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, which eliminates fraudulent chargebacks.